Statoil shuts down oil drilling rig after its third Arctic oil spill

Apr 13, 2005 02:00 AM

Oil exploration drilling from the offshore rig Eirik Raude has been shut down after its third spill into ecologically
fragile Arctic waters in just over two months, Statoil announced. The Norwegian parliament has allowed oil companies
to search for petroleum in the Barents Sea off northern Norway on the condition that there are no emissions into the
Arctic waters. Reactions to the latest spill were strong.
"This is the third time there has been an accidental spill from the rig Eirik Raude," said Haavard Holm, director of
the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority, a government agency. "We are extremely uncertain that the oil companies
are capable of drilling in the Barents Sea in the way they promised to," Holm said.

The state-controlled Statoil concern said the rig spilled about 1.6 tons (1.75 US tons) of hydraulic oil into the
water, probably from a hydraulic hose.
"We take a very serious view of the incident and are now setting up a working group with participants from the rig
operatorOcean Rig," said Tim Dodson, Statoil's senior vice president for exploration on the Norwegian continental
shelf. He said they would not resume drilling until they were certain that there would be no future spills. Drilling
began on April 2. Environmental groups have strongly opposed oil drilling in the Barents Sea, saying the region's
rich fish stocks and fragile cold water ecology are especially sensitive to pollution.

The Barents Sea north of Norway and Russia is also believed to have vast oil and natural gas reserves, crucial for
Norway to maintain levels of oil production that make the Nordic nation the world's third largest oil exporter after
Saudi Arabia and Russia.
The same rig had two leaks in February when it was drilling an exploration well for another Norwegian oil company,
Norsk Hydro. In a Feb. 8 incident, 6,000 litres (1,585 gallons) of water-based blow-out preventer liquid spilled into
the sea. On Feb. 16, the rig lost about 4,000 litres (1,000 gallons) of drilling fluid, mainly clay andbrine.

Neither of those spills were considered environmentally damaging, but both violated the ban on emissions into the
ocean, according to the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority. The latest spill did cause pollution, it said. In
parliament, Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik called the spills "totally unacceptable."
Statoil, founded by the government in 1972 to oversee Norway's petroleum interests, employs 24,000 people in 29
countries.